Paleochora boat trip on the south coast.

A Paleochora boat trip is a half day on the Libyan Sea, not a crossing to a famous lagoon. Boats leave from the small harbour at the west end of the town beach and run along a coast where several coves have no road down to them. The usual shape is two or three swim stops, sometimes a walk ashore at a pebble beach, and a return to the same quay before late afternoon. Four to five hours is the honest length if you are already in Paleochora. If you are coming from Chania the same morning, add the mountain drive and the day stops being short.

The water on this coast is often calmer than the north when the meltemi is blowing, which is the practical reason to choose it. You swim from the boat or from a cove, and the stops are the trip. There is no fortress and no single postcard beach you are obliged to tick off. Operators vary the exact coves with the wind and the group. Ask which beaches are planned, and whether the boat has a ladder and a shaded deck. Some are open caiques. A hot, shadeless deck for four hours is a different day from a boat with an awning.

This is the right outing if you are spending at least one night in Paleochora, Sfakia or the southwest and you want to swim somewhere you cannot park a car. It is the wrong outing as a same-day mission from Heraklion. Families with confident swimmers do well. People who want a guided commentary and a famous name on the ticket will be happier on the Balos boat or the Spinalonga crossing. The season follows the sea: late May to early October, with fewer departures outside July and August. A south wind is the one that cancels this coast, not the north wind that troubles Gramvousa.